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Ken Gordon — Torture

Okay, so I am running for a state-wide office for the first time. Ken Smith, who was my first campaign manager, is advising on this one. He is the one who suggested I jump out of the plane (to see me jump out of the plane, click here).

There is a natural tension between a candidate and those who think he should jump out of planes, drive to far off places to talk to four people, and be sociable when the candidate does not want to.

Ken drove me to the Adams County Democratic Assembly last week.

“Let’s get there early so you can work the crowd,” he said.

“You know I am an introvert,” I said.

“You are running for a state-wide office. You can’t be an introvert,” said Ken.

“I am. According to Meyers-Briggs, I’m an INTP. The “I” stands for introvert.”

We drove up to the convention center.

“Go in. Work the crowd a little bit. Talk to people. I will park the car,” Ken said.

“I don’t want to. I can park the car.”

He started to get that look that just precedes him quitting. So I stopped.

I always try to stop torturing him just before he quits.

Support local business Modern BungalowPassover: We are now in the midst of the Jewish Holiday of Passover. Jewish people don’t eat leavened bread during Passover because we had to get out of Egypt ahead of Pharoah’s chariots, and we didn’t have time to let the bread rise. My son, a college senior, called me this morning while I was on the floor of the Senate. He usually doesn’t call during the day, so I took the call because I thought it might be an emergency.

“Dad, do cookies have yeast in them?” he asked.

Emergency Contraception: The Governor vetoed a bill yesterday that would have allowed pharmacists to dispense emergency contraception medication to women. This is the Governor’s last year in this office. Last year he vetoed 47 bills, a record. This year he has vetoed 9 bills so far. There may be a new record coming.

I get a lot of emails from people who want us to override vetoes. I’m sure we will try to override some, but it is very rare to actually override a veto. Even Republicans who voted for a bill originally are reluctant to vote for an override. The Senate is split 18 Democrats to 17 Republicans. It takes 24 votes to override a veto. Democrats showed the same reluctance when Romer was Governor.

Every Vote Equal: The Senate passed Senate Bill 223 today on second reading. This is the bill that would join Colorado in a compact of states who would all agree to send their votes to the person who receives the largest popular vote in the country.

The compact only goes into effect if states representing a majority of the Electoral College join.

Right now not everyone’s vote is equal in electing a President. I think it makes sense to make the President the person who gets the most votes.

It is revolutionary, I admit. It is called democracy.

I know some people are concerned. It is a big change, and I don’t want to discount the concerns of people who feel we should be cautious, but I believe that if the framers of the Constitution were around now they would favor a woman’s right to vote, they would oppose slavery and they would support electing the President by majority vote.